Abstract
The tremendous diversity in eukaryotic life forms can ultimately be traced back to evolutionary modifications at the level of molecular networks. Deep understanding of these modifications will not only explain cellular diversity, but will also uncover different ways to execute similar processes and expose the evolutionary ‘rules’ that shape the molecular networks. Here, we review the evolutionary dynamics of the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), a signaling network that guards fidelity of chromosome segregation. We illustrate how the interpretation of divergent SAC systems in eukaryotic species is facilitated by combining detailed molecular knowledge of the SAC and extensive comparative genome analyses. Ultimately, expanding this to other core cellular systems and experimentally interrogating such systems in organisms from all major lineages may start outlining the routes to and eventual manifestation of the cellular diversity of eukaryotic life. Kops and colleagues discuss evolutionary dynamics of the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), a cell cycle checkpoint for chromosome segregation fidelity in eukaryotes. They illustrate how deep molecular knowledge of the SAC and detailed comparative genomics helps with interpreting evolutionary divergent SAC systems.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | R589-R602 |
| Journal | Current Biology |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 18 May 2020 |
Funding
We thank Luděk Kořený for kindly sharing cartoons of various eukaryotes used in Figure 1 . We thank members of the Snel and Kops labs for critical input. The Kops lab is a member of the Oncode Institute, which is partly financed by the Dutch Cancer Society. Work in the Snel lab is supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO-Vici 016.160.638, to B.S.). E.C.T. is supported by a personal fellowship granted by the Herchel Smith Fund, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.